Alexander Haig
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
| |
| Order: | 59th Secretary of State |
| Term of Office: | January 20 1981 - August 23 1982 |
| Predecessor: | Edmund Muskie |
| Successor: | George Schultz |
| Date of Birth: | December 2, 1924 |
| Place of Birth: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Spouse: | Barbara Haig |
| Profession: | Soldier |
| Political Party: | Republican |
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. (born December 2, 1924) was appointed Military Assistant to the Presidential Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger, in 1969, a position he retained until 1970, when President Richard Nixon promoted him to Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Starting from 1974, he was commander of the SACEUR, hence the ex officio commander of the NATO forces.
Military career until the Vietnam war
Haig served as a staff officer in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (DCSOPS) at the Pentagon (1962-64), and then was appointed Military Assistant to Secretary of the Army Stephen Ailes in 1964. Haig then took a leave of Absence from the Army, and then was appointed Deputy Secretary of Defense under Robert McNamara. He continued in that service until the end of 1965, whereupon he returned to uniform service, and took command of a Battalion of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1966. During his tour in Vietnam, he moved up to take command of one of the Brigades of the 1st Infantry Division.
Education
Haig attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania and the University of Notre Dame for one year before transferring to and graduating from West Point in 1946. He also received a Masters degree in International Relations from Georgetown University in 1961 where his thesis focused on the role of the military officer in the making of national policy.
Henry Kissinger's chief of staff
Alexander Haig returned to the Continental United States at the end of his one-year tour to take command of the Cadet Regiment at the USMA, and Deputy Commandant as well. He retained these dual positions until 1969, when he was appointed as Military Assistant to the Presidential Assistant for National Security Affairs, Henry Kissinger, a position he retained until 1970, when President Richard Nixon promoted Haig to Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In this position, Haig helped South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu to negotiate the final cease-fire talks in 1972. Haig continued in this position until 1973 when he was appointed to be Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, a post he held until the last few months of President Nixon’s presidency, when he served as White House Chief of Staff, during which he played a large "crisis management" role as the Watergate scandal unfolded. According to The Observer, Haig met Licio Gelli, Propaganda Due's headmaster, in the early 1970s, and was then involved in Operation Gladio . Authors Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin speculated in their 1991 book Silent Coup: The Removal of a President that Haig may have been "Deep Throat," noting Woodward and Haig knew each other when Woodward worked in naval intelligence, but it was revealed in 2005 that W. Mark Felt, the associate director of the FBI, was Woodward and Bernstein's source.
Commander of SACEUR (NATO Forces) from 1974 to 1979
From 1974 to 1979, Haig served as the Supreme Allied Commander of the European Command (SACEUR), and Commander in Chief, US European Command (CinCUSEUR), and thus was effectively the Commander of NATO Forces. An assassination attempt on Haig was uncovered and prevented in Brussels in 1979. Alexander Haig retired from the Army in 1979, and moved on to civilian employment.
Reagan's Secretary of State from 1981 to 1982
In 1979, he became President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Director of United Technologies, Inc., a job he retained until 1981.
In 1981, he was appointed as Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State. Robert White, ambassador in Salvador from 1980 to 81, has claimed that Alexander Haig pushed for his removal because he did not favor a military solution for the Salvadoran situation. Michael Ledeen, now an international adviser for Karl Rove, George W. Bush's closest advisor, was his "anti-terrorism" expert during this period; before that, Ledeen had worked as analyst for the Italian military intelligence agencies, which have been since proven to be involved in Gladio's strategia della tensione in Italy.
Haig resigned in July 1982. It was said that Reagan asked for his resignation over his refusal to negotiate Nuclear Weapons with the USSR. It was also said that Nancy Reagan did not like him. A military hawk, his tenure as Secretary of State was often characterized by his clashes with the more moderate Defense Secretary, Caspar Weinberger.
"I'm in control here"
He was criticized in 1981, after the March 30 assassination attempt on Reagan, for asserting before reporters that "I'm in control here" as a result of Reagan's hospitalization. The quotation became seen as an attempt by Haig to exceed his authority. The full quotation, which has often been overlooked, is:
Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I'm in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.
Haig is usually perceived as incorrect in his interpretation of the United States Constitution as far as both the presidential line of succession is concerned and in regard to the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution which deals with what happens when a president is incapacitated. However, as the holders of the two offices between the Vice President and the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore, are required under U.S. law (3 U.S.C. 19) to resign their positions in order to become acting President, an unlikely event considering that Vice President Bush was merely not immediately available, his statement certainly reflected political reality, if not necessarily legal reality. However, audio tapes made that day in the White House by National Security Advisor Richard Allen, and released in 2001, suggest that Haig was indeed under the erroneous impression that the U.S. Constitution placed him after the Vice President of the United States in the Presidential Line of Succession. Critics also note that it is not so much his apparent misunderstanding of the constitution that is the problem, rather it is how he said it. Noticeably flustered when entering the press conference, the words "I'm in control here" echoed as pompous and militaristic. This criticism, along with the statement being taken out of context, crushed Haig's political aspirations to elected office.
1982 Falklands War
The Falklands War (March-June 1982) occurred during Haig's tenure as Secretary of State and saw Haig attempt to conduct shuttle diplomacy in April 1982 following the Argentine invasion but prior to the arrival of the British fleet in the war zone. Haig met with both the British government in London and the Argentine government in Buenos Aires but talks broke down and Haig returned to Washington on April 19.
Unsuccessful 1988 Republican nomination for President
Haig unsuccessfully ran for the Republican Party nomination for President in 1988. He was also hired by Commodore Computers as a business consultant before they went bankrupt.
Current activies
Haig is co-chairman of the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus, along with Zbigniew Brzezinski and Stephen J. Solarz.
As of 2005, Haig was the host of the television program World Business Review, which claims to be a television news magazine. In fact, the show has a sales force which requests money from the companies featured, so it should be regarded as more of an infomercial.
On January 5 2006, he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials.
Haig published his memoirs, entitled Inner Circles: How America Changed The World, in 1992.
Alexander Haig is the father of author Brian Haig.
Endnotes
- ↑ See Operation Gladio for the sources
External links
- The Day Reagan was Shot article on Haig
- The Falklands: Failure of a Mission critique of Haig's mediation efforts
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on April 22, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen
Here."
